Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch “had more than $500 million reasons to lie to HP” when he sold the UK company to the Silicon Valley giant in 2011, federal prosecutors stated during closing arguments in [Lynch’s fraud case](https://www.law.com/corpcounsel/2024/06/04/follow-the-money-feds-close-case-against-michael-lynch-in-hp-fraud-trial/). Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Leach dedicated four hours to extensively detailing a complex network of transactions that underpin the 14 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy Lynch and his former vice president of finance, Stephen Chamberlain, face.
Leach urged the jury to “follow the money,” emphasizing that this principle simplifies the case’s financial intricacies. Despite Lynch’s attempts to distance himself from the fraudulent activities by claiming ignorance of pertinent details, Leach countered this by telling the jury, “Dr. Lynch essentially testified that he doesn’t read his email. There’s no reason to think he wasn’t paying attention.”